Rebecca Faye Smith Galli was born into a family that valued the power of having a plan. With a pastor father and a stay-at-home mother, her 1960s southern upbringing was bucolic―even enviable. But when her brother, only seventeen, died in a waterskiing accident, the slow unraveling of her perfect family began.

Though grief overwhelmed the family, twenty-year-old Galli forged onward with her life plans―marriage, career, and raising a family of her own―one she hoped would be as idyllic as the family she once knew.

Well hello there. And welcome!

I’m so glad you are here. I hope you’ll pull up a chair and sit with me a while. I bring my own wherever I go, not by choice of course.

But that’s another story.

Here you can find some of my shiniest writings on my bouts with life and its challenges—I hope some of them will be helpful to you. But my purpose isn’t to show off more than 400 published pieces—oh did I just write that? Sorry. I do that every once in a while—so just call me out on it if you see any bragging.

Nope, this site is less about my writing and more about connection. About belonging. About keeping in touch with the people I love and the things I love to do.

I hope you’ll join me right here Sign Me Up! and become part of my subscriber family.

Every third Thursday, maybe more often if I get on a roll, I’ll send out one of my columns, or a short email about my search to stay positive and inspired on this road of love, loss, and healing.

Thoughtful Thursdays, I’m calling it. And when you sign up, I’ll send you my Seven Strategies for Staying Up When Life is Pulling You Down.

In the meantime, you may see me flitting around online elsewhere, too—although I’m not quite the social butterfly that my mama was. My most recent comments are usually on my Twitter feed. I’m @Chairwriter (cute, huh?) and, no you don’t have to be on Twitter to see them; it’s right there under Latest Tweets. I usually tweet a couple of times a day, more if I’m obsessed—or in trouble—or both!

I also post, pin, and wish folks, “Happy Birthday” (when I remember it) and give out my love in “likes” and “hearts” depending on where I’ve parked myself that day. Click any of those buttons to connect with me. Guess I do get around, don’t I?

But what about this site, my home away from home?

According to my friends, I’m the “hostess with the mostest,” so of course I must give you the complete tour.

BUT first a confession – I’ve. Written. A. Lot.

For fifteen years (with no end in sight) I’ve written about my crazy life, hence the LARGE body of work on this website. Remember those 400 plus published pieces? Look at the lovely pictures below and you will see links organized by column name. Click away there. Or, check out the tag box, under Pick a Topic, for column topics I’ve written on.

BUT, beyond the columns here,

IF YOU ARE NEW TO AUTISM and need resources or someone to talk to, contact the organization I helped found in 2000 for that very purpose – just click here or on their logo on the right.

OR IF YOU, or someone you know, ARE EXPERIENCING FRESH GRIEF, especially the loss of a child or an untimely death, my father’s book, Sit Down God. . . I’m Angry has been helpful to thousands.

But IF YOU NEED A LAUGH, right NOW my top performing column of all time is this one on my nephew’s Thanksgiving toast that shattered our dinner.

Literally.

So quickly, to wrap up, you’ll see more tabs under that sunrise photo, about my life in the danged wheelchair, my passions, and my precious family—Madison, my adult daughter with autism, my pastor father, Dr. R.F. Smith Jr., (yes, I’m a PK!), my beloved brother, Forest, who died far too young at age seventeen, and oh yes, MY BOOK!

More about that later. I promise to keep you posted on that sure-to-be adventure in learning and most-likely adventure in resilience. So thanks for sticking around. I hope you’ll join my subscriber family and maybe even tell your bestest buddy to join, too Refer a Friend. (It’s always more fun to do things with friends, right?)